Dark Horse (11 page)

W
aiting
for the technician to bring her handheld was making Rose edgy. She imagined Sazo, being oh-so-clever in his mind, thinking up ways to get her to the Class 5, or having some comm device delivered to her.

If he lost patience, he might just force them to send her over and he was a ʽcanʼt make an omelet without breaking some eggsʼ kind of guy.

She paced her room, agitated. It took a lot longer to pace than her cell on the Class 5, but it still felt confining.

Remembering both Captain Jallan and Dimitara flicking their sleeve for the time, she did the same on her borrowed Grih outfit, and sure enough, her cuff lit up with the time.

Cool.

Although it told her sheʼd already been here two hours. Enough to make her tired of waiting like a good little girl.

She stepped up to the comm system, used it as Havak had shown her yesterday to find the comms department, and worked out a route.

She would go to them.

They must be busy, what with the Class 5 hanging before them like a prickly black forbidden fruit.

Sheʼd save them some time, and hopefully ease the feeling inside her that she was coming out of her skin.

She stepped into the passageway, took a moment to enjoy the frothy green-blue of the walls again, and started walking in what she hoped was the right direction.

Every now and then a comm would come through the hidden speakers. Mundane calls for personnel to be somewhere, do something. No music, which surprised her, given how taken everyone seemed to be with her rendition of Row, Row, Row Your Boat.

Despite the circumstance, she grinned.

Not exactly Grammy-winning material, but they acted like it was something really special. Sheʼd always loved to sing, enjoyed being part of the university choir, but she was no soloist.

She turned a corner and faltered. Instead of the serene green-blue corridor, the way opened up into a massive half oval, with an exterior wall made of the clearest glass. It was as if she was hanging in space, and she pushed herself reflexively up against the solid wall behind her.

The floor was clear glass as well, at the outer rim, so if you stepped right up to the window to look out, it would feel as if you were floating in space.

“You all right?”

Rose looked to her right, found herself being studied by a Grih officer in the pale blue uniform most of the crew wore.

She gave a nod. “Wasnʼt expecting it, thatʼs all.”

The moment she spoke, the womanʼs focus on her seemed to intensify. “What werenʼt you expecting?”

“Iʼve been kept in small spaces for a long time, and this . . .” She looked out at the vast black in front of her, glittering with stars in the distance and dominated by the gas planet and Harmon, with the Class 5 blighting the view. She cleared her throat. “It was a surprise, thatʼs all.”

“You sound as if youʼre making music with your voice.” The womanʼs direct stare was hard to handle, almost as hard as the view, given how long sheʼd gone with being both exposed and invisible at the same time.

Sheʼd had similar scrutiny on Harmon from Captain Jallan, but perhaps because it had been outdoors, or something about Jallan himself, it had felt more comfortable than this focus.

“So I gather.” She hunched, turned her head to face the stars so she wouldnʼt have to watch the woman watching her. The endlessness of the universe outside the window put her and her problems neatly in their place.

“Iʼm Dara. I work with Lieutenant Kila in the explorations division. You must be Rose McKenzie.” Dara extended her hands, palms together. Rose covered them with her own reluctantly. She had no wish to spend time talking about herself right now.

The feeling of climbing out of her skin was back, worse than before.

“I have to go.” She steadied herself, pushed off from the wall. The sense she had of too much space had diminished and she was able to focus on what was happening around her.

It was a well-used area. A small group of people were exercising together with smooth, flowing movements that reminded her of tai chi. Others sat with cups or small plates of food around tables, talking and laughing, and a few ran a circuit around the area.

It was so normal, so familiar, she felt a resurgence in appreciation and gratitude toward Sazo for bringing her here. They truly were like her, in the most fundamental of ways.

“Goodbye.” She nodded to Dara and started walking across the massive space. She stopped at the far end, looked back, just one last look at the amazing spacescape.

Dara was watching her, standing where sheʼd left her, and Rose managed a polite nod before she turned away.

The passageways sheʼd walked along to get to the viewport area had been empty, but now she passed more and more people as she made her way to the busy part of the ship.

She attracted attention, but she had to expect that. She was an alien. An unknown advanced sentient. It was perfectly natural.

She forced herself not to cringe, and tried to meet the gazes of most of the Grih crew who stared at her.

They were all tall, and though sheʼd never thought of herself as short, she came, at most, to just above the shoulder of most of them.

Their hair fascinated her. Captain Jallanʼs was almost blue-black, with silver-gray tips, and sheʼd found it hard not to stare at it the whole way up from Harmon.

Most of the people she passed had a similar look; a darker color tipped with a lighter shade. Brown and light red, or black tipped with white.

She was the only blonde.

She tried not to stare at their ears, but they still delighted her beyond all logic. The first time sheʼd seen Captain Jallanʼs ears had been the moment sheʼd accepted she was in a completely new world, and it wasnʼt all bad. There was adventure and magic in this place.

She could whine about her fate, or embrace it, and one thing Rose had never been able to stand was a whiner.

Sheʼd been getting slower and slower, trying to pretend she didnʼt know she was the object of everyoneʼs attention, and now she realized she had no idea where she was.

“You are lost?”

Rose had already seen the Grih who addressed her. It would be hard to miss him. He lounged against the wall, big enough to act as a lode-bearing pillar. He had the short, spiky Grih hair in sandy brown tipped with copper, hulking great shoulders, and a hard expression.

“I am.”

He raised a brow. “Where do you wish to be?”

“The comms division.”

“Whatʼs your business there?” He crossed his arms over his chest and muscles popped out everywhere.

Rose decided she liked Captain Jallanʼs sleeker look. He had muscles, sheʼd felt them personally, but this guy took it just that one step too far.

He wanted to know her business, and she was surprised to find she felt slightly insulted by the question, even if they had every reason to be wary of her. “I need to pick up a handheld.”

“Name?” His voice was gravel in a concrete mixer, like all the Grih.

“Rose McKenzie.”

The big Grih pushed himself off the wall heʼd been leaning against, and Rose couldnʼt help flinching and taking a step back.

He stilled. “I wonʼt hurt you.”

She tried to shrug it off, shoot him a smile, but she couldnʼt quite pull it off. “Had a few bad experiences recently,” she said. “Iʼm afraid Iʼm jumpy.”

He gave her a long look. “This is the systems engineering division, comms is part of it.” He waved his hand toward a door to her right, and she peered through.

It was a quiet place. A few people working at desks, others standing on both sides of a huge free-standing glass board with a schematic etched onto it. As she watched, lights jumped and flared on the screen.

“You an engineer?” Rose slanted the big Grih hulking beside her a look.

He gave a curt nod. “First officer Yari.”

“Pleased to meet you.” She presented her hands, palms together, to him, and he took a step back.

“That isnʼt an appropriate greeting in these circumstances?” Rose frowned, and hoped whatever handheld she received had more information on Grih societal norms.

“No. It is appropriate, as you are clearly not part of Battle Center.” Yari clasped her hands between his own massive ones. “I didnʼt expect you to know our ways, thatʼs all.”

“I speak your language,” Rose pointed out.

“So you do.” Yariʼs lips managed to tweak up slightly in a half-smile. “Your voice . . .” He didnʼt finish the sentence, and Roseʼs focus shifted to the woman approaching them with a scowl on her face.

“Sub-lieutenant.” Yari came to attention. “This is Rose McKenzie.”

“Hello.” Rose presented her hands again, and the sub-lieutenant hesitated a moment before clasping them. She was much smaller than Yari, although Rose still had to look up at her.

“Sub-lieutenant Hista.” She gave that strangely formal head bow. “What are you doing here, Rose McKenzie? The instructions were for you to wait in your room for one of my staff to come to you,
when
the captain had approved giving you a device.”

Rose held her ground. “I found it difficult to wait. I wanted to explore, and not be confined. If you arenʼt ready for me, thatʼs fine, Iʼll keep going and you can leave a message on my room comm for me when approval comes through.”

Histaʼs eyes narrowed.

Rose turned to Yari. “It was nice to meet you. You, too, Sub-lieutenant Hista.”

She turned to go.

“Wait.” Histaʼs voice was grudging. “Sit on the bench. Iʼll be with you in a moment.”

Rose walked over to a long, cushioned bench against the far wall and sat, content to watch while the engineers worked.

Hista and Yari bent their heads together, talking so quietly Rose couldnʼt hear them. They were lucky she didnʼt have super-hearing, rather than super-eyesight. And she still felt, with every step, that she could launch herself further and higher than she would ever have been able to do on Earth.

Hista and Yari were still at it, and the feeling of wanting to jump out of her skin rose up in her again. Sazo was waiting, had set a deadline, and while she still had time, she was nervous heʼd get impatient.

She started humming, the sound soothing her like it had back on the Class 5, when the only voices sheʼd heard some days were Sazoʼs and her own.

She didnʼt notice the gradual silence, but when she looked up, every face was turned her way.

She froze.

She wanted to speak, to ask what was wrong, but her throat had closed up, and she could do nothing but try to swallow.

Hista clapped her hands together, and Rose flinched. So did most of the engineering staff, but as a way to snap everyone out of their strange behavior, it worked.

Everyone went back to their duties.

Hista approached her, and Yari came with her.

“No one meant to frighten you.” Histaʼs expression was less severe than it had been. “I had heard from Dr. Revil that you are a music-maker. We like music and there is something extremely pleasing about the sounds you make.”

Rose gave an uneasy nod. “I was just humming.”

Yari cleared his throat. “We are waiting for permission from Captain Jallan to provide you with a handheld. Perhaps you would be interested in my loading a music program onto the device as well? It is something our music-makers use for their songs.”

Rose hesitated. She didnʼt know if she wanted to go down this path and claim music-maker status. She wasnʼt good enough as a singer. It would feel like lying.

She also had a feeling she didnʼt understand the extent of what it meant, and the reverence they seemed to feel for music-makers was disconcerting and made her extremely uneasy. “Iʼm not really a music-maker——”

Yari goggled. “You are the best music-maker Iʼve ever heard, even just with your speaking voice.”

She shrugged. “I donʼt understand what it entails . . .” She trailed off, realizing that she was offending them. “I donʼt understand how things work, and I donʼt want to claim status that I donʼt deserve.”

Hista opened her mouth, looked at Yari, and closed it again.

Rose gripped her knees. “I will obviously be happy to have a music program.” She hadnʼt specifically agreed that she was a music-maker by accepting the program, but she knew she was on a slippery slope. Perhaps Captain Jallan could help her get out of this. Or Filavantri.

Whatever her misgivings, her words seemed to appease them.

Yari went off to bend over a screen, and Hista gave her another formal nod and left, tapping at her ear as she engaged her comm.

Sheʼd been abandoned.

Rose shrugged. She preferred that to too much attention. She rose from the bench and followed Hista out, although the sub-lieutenant was nowhere to be seen when Rose stepped into the passageway.

She decided to keep exploring.

She found a few communal lounges, though none as vast as the first one sheʼd come across.

There were gyms, full of strange equipment and buff bodies working out. Sheʼd noticed the Grih womenʼs breasts were flatter than her own, and their bodies sleeker, with long, slender lines. She wondered what they thought of the slight differences in her physiology. She was as lean as they were, especially after months of little food, but her body dipped and curved more than theirs did.

She turned a corner and slowed as she heard the unmistakable sound of water in a confined space.

She walked up to a door and when it opened, she found herself looking at an indoor pool.

The pool had a solid glass cover over it, sealing it. She guessed that would come in handy when they made a light jump.

A sign beside the button to open the cover demanded whoever used the pool had to put the cover back after use or if the ship encountered turbulence.

There was a door at the far end of the room and Rose guessed it was a change room. She went in and found swim suits neatly folded on a shelf by size, and towels stacked in a neat rack.

She took the smallest suit she could find, and it still hung on her, but she didnʼt care.

She set the towel by the edge of the pool and pushed the button to retract the lid.

The water was pale green and warm. Rose shivered, though, when she stepped into it. The sensation of floating after months of confinement was exquisite. She started moving, gliding across the pool, with the water sliding like liquid velvet over her skin.